Sunday, February 9, 2014

My own "Longstreet" AAR!

Hi all!

Well, I played my second 1863 "Longstreet" campaign game yesterday, and thought I would report!

The first 1863 game went BADLY. Very, very badly. The two confederate commanders defending the walled farm got DESTROYED, although my army actually came through it in decent shape once all was said and done in the post-game process. Plus, none of the photos came out, so no report from that one!

This one was an "Outflanked" game, and I won the Scouting roll (thanks in part to a Broken Code card I picked up in the last game.) Below is the Army of the Carolinas coming into this fight.

The top shot of the blog is the layout. There were two objectives I needed to take; a heavily defended house on one flank, and a signal tower on the other. My Federal enemy (Augie) had a bit of a numbers advantage over me, but not a HUGE advantage. I basically deployed my army in two parts; the two small infantry units and the tiny cavalry unit went over on my right flank (left side top in the first photo), to run interference and harass the enemy into defending the objective on that flank. The rest of my army, including three large units of eager veterans (don't see THOSE that often in 1863, and certainly not three large units of them... thank you, "Hail to the Chief" card, two previous "CSA Replacement" cards, and low casualties on those units!)

Here are two of my big veteran North Carolina regiments, the 30th and 31st, advancing in line!

The artillery began to pound on each other, with my slightly larger Reb battery (two batteries, actually) getting a bit of an advantage in counter-battery fire.

Brigadier Christian K. Hurley receives an early report from a scout, while some hoity-toity politicians from Raleigh and Richmond come to visit and remind the General how much rides on this battle!

The Reb forces advance on the Federal defenders. You can see my larger cavalry unit screening the right flank of the attack, and the 11th South Carolina about to advance into the woods, where their sharpshooters will give them a little advantage in skirmishing.

Meanwhile on the far flank you can see my tiny units of men advancing, while my Federal opponent is judging how much manpower to detach to deal with them.

My Rebs close the distance and begin to open fire.

The Raleigh Irregulars push through the woods to guard the flank of the 11th South Carolina. You can see their Hero, Colonel Michael Laettner, leading the boys from the front.

The Confederate units get closer and closer and the two sides exchange fire.

Meanwhile the Federal commander begins to swing around his own left flank, hoping to catch my large attack in the side.

The Union troops did an excellent job firing and falling back and firing and falling back...

But my boys finally charged in, in an epic (and epic point gaining) charge, and threw those dastardly bluebellies back!

Meanwhile the Union door continues to swing, although slowly, and the Raleigh Irregulars did their best to hold the Union troops off of the flank of my attack!

The other flank was a real interesting situation... one Federal battalion was deployed to contest the signal tower, but the single unit was outmarched and out maneuvered by the two small Rebel units and the small group of Rebel cavalry, who actually swung all the way around and took the signal tower!

The three veteran Rebel units continue to push forward, as the beleaguered Federal line reforms in an attempt to hold steady. I was having to REALLY balance my move and charge phases... I NEEDED to keep those tiny units on the far right moving, but at the same time I REALLY wanted to charge home on this flank before the Union hit ME in the flank! There were some nervous moments!

Speaking of the right flank, that battalion of Federals tried to get to grips with my small groups of Rebels...

Finally my lines got close enough that I was able to pour in some huge volleys, and they REALLY did the damage (I rolled pretty well today, and the dice were not as kind to Augie.) The two small units of infantry finally broke and ran as they were reduced to a single stand, and the Federal artillery was destroyed.

And that was it! Augie had 18 casualties, and with two dice to roll to add to that it was inevitable that he would reach his break point. Victory to the Army of the Carolinas!

The post-game phase was generally kind to me. I lost a few stands to sickness, but not many. My large unit of cavalry, the Raleigh Irregulars, DID become Reluctant even though they lost only a single stand. The Rebel Cavaliers was a WELCOME addition, although my army now has THREE units of cavalry... and I don't love cavalry:) The Raleigh Boys in particular will have to be used as a roadblock unit, as Reluctant cavalry isn't so great for attacking. ANOTHER CS Replacement card (I've now gotten it THREE times, and I don't think there are THAT many in the deck!) was useful. I ended up using my "See the Elephant" cards (I ditched the first one I got, thanks to my "Political Savy" personality card") for reinforcements, as I didn't really have any unit to make veteran, and I used the hero card for the same... so a bit of a boring post-game process, but whatever.

So... here is the Army of the Carolinas now!

I went ahead and did a bit more modeling on the army to reflect the changes. I added dead to units that suffered combat casualties... one body for each lost stand. I also did a bit more work to the flags, punching some bullet holes in them and tattering them up a bit more. Finally I painted up some more browns and butternuts in the lines... the units certainly look more ragged now than they used to!

Here is the 30th North Carolina, an eight stand regiment of Eager Veterans. I've got a lot of those!

Here is the 11th South Carolina, a six stand regiment of Eager Veterans, with a Hero (their Colonel) and Sharpshooters.

Compare their current state to the regiment at the start of the war!

Here is the 31st North Carolina, ANOTHER eight stand Eager Veteran unit!

BTW, here is a shot of the same regiment at the start of the war... note the difference.

I also have three batteries of artillery (one with a light rifle and heavy rifle, one with a Napoleon and a howitzer, and one with just a Napoleon) and three units of cavalry; the Greensboro Irregulars (eight stands of eager vets) the Raleigh Irregulars (six stands of reluctant vets) and the Asheville Irregulars (three stands of seasoned recruits.)